A vehicle, etc., driven by receiving liquid fuel, such as a gasoline engine, a diesel engine, or the like, includes a fuel tank in which fuel is stored.
In addition, the vehicle includes a fuel pump module forcibly supplying the fuel filled in the fuel tank to the engine.
Generally, the fuel pump module is configured to include a flange assembly 1, a reservoir body assembly 2, a guide rod 3 connecting the flange assembly 1 to the reservoir body assembly 2, a spring 4 positioned on an outer side of the guide rod 3, and an in-tank filter 5 removing foreign materials included in the fuel, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
In most cases, the flange assembly is fixed to an inlet portion of a fuel tank, and the reservoir body assembly is positioned on the bottom of the fuel tank.
In addition, the guide rod, which connects the flange assembly to the reservoir body assembly while guiding the movement of the spring, is configured to slidably move to an inner side of the reservoir body assembly.
Further, the spring is positioned on the outer side of the guide rod, and is positioned between the flange assembly and the reservoir body assembly to thereby allow the reservoir body assembly to be always positioned on the bottom of the fuel tank.
The in-tank filter is configured to include an upper container 5a and a lower container 5b coupled to each other and a filter media 5c positioned in an inner side of the coupled upper and lower containers.
(An in-tank filter shown in FIG. 1 has a different shape from that of an in-tank filter shown in FIG. 3; however, it performs the same operation as that of in-tank filter shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a perspective view describing a general in-tank filter.)
The upper and lower containers are coupled to each other to thereby serve as a pressure container. The upper and lower containers were made of a metal or a synthetic resin.
In the case in which the upper and lower containers were made of a metal, there were problems in that corrosion is caused on surfaces of the upper and lower containers, it is difficult to weld the upper container to the lower container, and production cost is high.
Owing to these reasons, the upper and lower containers made of a synthetic resin material, which is inexpensive and has excellent corrosion resistance, have been mainly used.
However, in the case in which the upper and lower containers made of a synthetic resin material are used, they were vulnerable to high temperature and high pressure in view of the characteristics of the synthetic resin material, such that it is more likely that deformation or a crack is generated during the use of the upper and lower containers.
That is, a coupled body of the upper and lower containers expanded due to an expansion phenomenon and pressure to thereby generate the crack in the container, which causes loss of functions of a fuel pump module, such as water leakage and pressure leakage (the coupled body of the upper and lower containers, which serves as a pressure container, has significant expansion pressure applied thereto. The expansion pressure was generally transferred to the container using high temperature gasoline fuel as a medium; however, the expansion phenomenon was further intensified under a condition in which biofuel such as methanol, ethanol, or the like, is used, thereby generating larger deformation of the container due to the expansion pressure).
Even through the upper and lower containers are implemented to have a thick thickness in order to solve this problem, the upper and lower containers manufactured by molding had a weld line, such that a deformation prevention effect and a crack prevention effect were not satisfactorily improved, and the coupled body of the upper and lower containers was deformed, such that a coupled state in a coupled part (a fusing scheme is generally used) of the upper and lower containers has become bad.